Alchemy Stars Beginner Character Guide: Choose Characters and Build Teams to Avoid Common Pitfalls

One of the biggest headaches for new players of *Alchemy Stars* isn’t actually stage difficulty—it’s the sheer number of character types and how specific every character’s role is!
Sure, pulling a 6-star makes you hyped, but you have no idea if you should spend resources leveling them up!
To be real, even if you pull a so-called “god-tier character”, if your team lacks color-converting units, healers (aka “nurses”), or support utilities, you’ll still struggle so hard on stages that you’ll think you’re playing the wrong game. Conversely, even if you start with regular characters, as long as you build a solid core team, you’ll easily last into the mid-game and beyond.

I. Game Concepts & Character System Overview

A. Introduction to *Alchemy Stars*’ Character System

Think of *Alchemy Stars* characters like pieces of a 5-person team puzzle. Unlike typical pure RPGs, damage here doesn’t come from a single main carry—you need to use “color conversion + grid movement + burst timing” to deal consistent damage.
So when deciding the order to level characters or pulling new ones, don’t just look at a 6-star’s raw damage. What matters most is whether they help your team easily form long same-color chains.

B. Four Element Roles & Weakness/Strength Relationships

The core of *Alchemy Stars* is its four elements: Fire, Water, Forest, Thunder. Elemental strengths/weaknesses exist, but new players don’t need to memorize every single counter right away. First, understand these key points:

• Most of the time, you’ll run either a “single-element team” or a “main element + sub-element” mix

• Only use a second element or counter-specific characters for high-difficulty stages or unique mechanics

• Elemental counters are a bonus, but color conversion and team core build are what matter most

C. Character Rarity & The Difference Between 6-Stars and 5-Stars

6-Stars’ Key Pros:

• Full kits, high skill multipliers, flashy mechanics—they’re ready to use right away

• Many 6-stars can function as core characters at 0 limit break, so you don’t have to burn resources on breaking them early

5-Stars’ Typical Value:

• Many are “f2p-friendly god characters” — they excel as color converters, healers, or support units

• Lower investment cost; they feel strong even without high limit breaks

• Most importantly: 5-stars fill gaps in your team core, letting your 6-star main carry deal max damage

4-Stars & 3-Stars:

• Usable, but mostly for “transition periods” or specific roles

• If you’re missing a color converter, healer, or support unit, a 4-star can save your run

• But don’t dump all resources into lower-star characters as your main team long-term—you’ll run out of resources fast

D. New Player Perspective: Focus on Characters or Team First?

The #1 rule new players should follow is:

Focus on your team core first, then character strength.

Ask yourself these four questions first:

1. What element team do I want to main?

2. Does this team have a color converter? A healer (aka “nurse”)? Support units?

3. Can my main carry deal burst damage when forming long color chains?

4. If not, what am I missing? A color converter? Healer? Crowd control? Or a movement unit?

By checking your team against these four questions, you won’t get pulled around by “tier lists” online, and you’ll plan your resources and leveling direction much more rationally.

II. Character Rarity & Leveling Priority

A. 6-Star Character Roles & Value

6-star characters can generally be split into 3 types that are “truly worth prioritizing investment”:

1. Main）

 

Damage Core: The ceiling of your team's damage against bosses and high-difficulty stages, it's your primary source of damage.

• Top Color-Changer Characters: They can quickly convert the grid to the colors you want, directly boosting your team's "effective damage per turn".

• Utility 6-Star Characters: These characters handle roles like displacement, crowd control, shielding, grid destruction, or countering special mechanics.

Common Mistakes New Players Make:

• Pulling a 6-Star and immediately maxing it out, only to find that unit is "strong only in the late game" or "needs high breakthrough to be complete", wasting precious resources in the early stages.

• On the flip side, if you lack color-changers or support/healers, you'll hit a brick wall in stages. So when you pull a 6-Star as a new player, priority isn't rarity—it's whether this character can immediately fill a gap in your team and make it complete.

B. 5-Star Replaceable Cores & "F2P Meta Gems"

One of the best things about Alchemy Stars is: 5-Star characters can actually carry their weight really well. Especially 5-Star color-changers—they're often the key MVPs for clearing stages. Here's why:

• Without a color-changer in your team, you can't pull off long-chain attacks at all.

• Without long chains, even your main DPS will feel like they're scratching a rock—That's why many veteran players tell newbies, "Level up your color-changers first," and that's exactly why.

C. Can You Use 4-Star & 3-Star Characters?

Absolutely, and they mainly serve two purposes:

1. Fill Gaps: If you're missing a healer, color-changer, or a utility character with a specific function, low-star units work fine as a temporary fix.

2. Transition Use: Help you breeze through early-game story stages and main quests without hitting roadblocks—replace them when you get better characters.

But remember one thing:

It's not that you can't level low-star units, but don't pour massive resources into them long-term.
Level them just enough to handle current stages—save resources for the real mains that carry you through the late game.

D. Early-Game Character Progression Priority for Newbies

If you only have a fixed pool of resources to allocate, here's my recommended leveling order:

1. Main Color-Changer: Ensure you can pull off long-chain attacks every turn.

2. Main Damage Dealer (Main DPS): Have your core source of damage to take down bosses.

3. Healer or Survival Support: Boost your team's survivability to reduce deaths in stages.

4. Utility Characters: Handle roles like displacement, crowd control, grid destruction, etc.—pick based on which stage you're stuck on.

5. Any other characters you want to level.

III. Gacha Pulls & Must-Have Characters for Newbies' Start

A. Gacha Pull Target: Dual Same-Attribute 6-Star Standard

If you want a "smooth start", the ideal gacha pull combo is:

• Same-Attribute 6-Star Main DPS + Same-Attribute 6-Star Color-Changer
  This start is gonna make your life so much easier—you get a solid same-attribute team build right off the bat, so stage-clearing speed is way faster than anyone else's.

But don't get fixated on this—it's just an "ideal scenario", not a requirement.

B. Safe Start Combo: 1 6-Star + 1 5-Star (When No Dual 6-Stars)

A more realistic and common start is:

• 1 6-Star damage or utility character
  Plus 2-3 same-attribute 5-Star color-changers or supports
  As long as you can build a "Main DPS + Dual Color-Changer" team framework, you'll still have a great start.

Here's a super practical minimum standard for a safe start:

Same

 

Attribute Main DPS + at least 2 usable Color Converters
With this core setup, you won’t have too much trouble pushing through World Line stages and early-event missions.

C. Starter Pull and Character Planning for F2P/Low-Spend Players

• F2P Players: You don’t need to chase the “perfect” starter pull. The key is to get a solid core setup. The sooner you have your team’s basic structure ready, the faster you can start hoarding resources for high-value upcoming banners.

• Low-Spend Players: Your strategy can shift to “just get a viable starter pull,” then use small top-ups later to fill in your biggest gaps.

D. Common Starter Regrets and Most Satisfying Starter Character Cases for New Players

New players’ most common starter regret cases usually go like this:

• You pull a cool-looking 6-star Main DPS

• But your team has no Color Converters and no Healer/Support

• As a result, you keep getting stuck on stages while thinking, “Why is this so hard even with a 6-star?”
  It’s not bad luck—your team just lacks the core setup.

And new players’ most satisfying starter cases usually include:

• You pull a “not flashy-looking but super practical” Color Converter or Support character

• Your team can pull off Long Chain attacks every turn

• Stages go so smoothly you’ll think the game’s super generous
  Alchemy Stars is that straightforward: It saves you tons of resources and lets you clear stages fast

A team that can pull off Long Chain attacks is the real winner.

IV. Attribute Team Character Recommendations and Roles

In this guide, I’ll recommend characters based on their roles instead of just spamming a bunch of names.
Following the outline you provided, I’ll use the “type each character belongs to” to help you easily relate to and grasp other characters of the same type.

A. Forest Attribute Characters

Forest Team Main DPS Recommendations

Forest attribute teams usually feel: highly stable to operate, with very practical attack ranges, and just the right rhythm for damage output.
When choosing a Forest Main DPS, these traits are top priorities:

• Attack range is comfortable to work with

• Preferably has AOE or Piercing attack capabilities

• Can smoothly trigger Long Chain burst damage

Forest Attribute Color Converters, Supports, and Healers

The most common problems new players face when building a Forest team are “not enough stable Color Converters” and “insufficient healing.”
The basic structure of a Forest team is usually:

• Forest Main DPS

• 2 Forest Color Converters

• Forest Healer or Survival Support

• Last slot for a functional character

Forest teams are easy to pick up, but there’s one thing to note: They can easily get into a state where “operation stability is enough, but damage efficiency is too low.”
So for late-game Forest teams, you need to learn:

Save Color Converter skills for your Main DPS’ damage timing—never use them randomly or waste them.

B. Water Attribute Characters

Water Team Main DPS and Map-Wide Damage Characters

Water attribute teams usually have these advantages:

• AOE attack effects are excellent

• Cleaning up minions feels great

• Some Water character skill animations are super impressive

When choosing a Water Main DPS, these traits are important:

• Can handle both groups of enemies and Bosses

• Has stable damage windows

• Preferably has some extra functional attributes

Water Attribute Color Converters and Control Characters

If you use Water attribute Color Converters properly, you’ll notice you can pull off really long damage chains every turn—overall, the damage experience is super smooth.
The basic structure for new players building a Water team is similar to a Forest team:

Main DPS + Double Color Converters + Healer + Functional Character
The difference is that Water attribute functional characters usually lean more towards crowd control, slowing enemies, or position control—since Water’s

Your total damage output heavily relies on unit positioning.

C. Lightning Attribute Units

Lightning Attribute Tier 0: Color Changer / Support Core

The core playstyle of a Lightning team is: fast pacing, deadly burst windows, and the sheer satisfaction of pulling off long chains that'll keep you hooked nonstop.
If your Lightning team has strong Color Changers, you'll feel like the whole team is on Turbo mode:

• You can easily pull off long chains every turn

• Your main carry can dish out max damage every turn

• You'll notice a huge jump in how fast you take down bosses

The power of a Lightning team heavily relies on Color Changing and Energy Regen, so players often describe it like this:

The strength of a Lightning team doesn't hinge on how strong individual units are—it's all about how good your Color Changers are.

Lightning Attribute Damage & Universal Units

Lightning teams typically lean into:

• Impressive single-target burst damage

• They can handle area damage too, but more often than not, they rely on long chains to fill in AoE gaps
  That's why a common, strong Lightning team setup is:

• 1 Main Carry

• 1 Sub Carry or Support Damage Unit

• 2 Color Changers to sustain the damage chain

• Plus a Healer or Shield Unit

D. Fire Attribute Units

Fire Attribute Main Carries & AoE Burst Units

Fire teams have a really distinct identity:

• Their burst damage is straightforward and heavy

• They melt hordes of mobs super quickly

• But some Fire teams depend a lot on their "attack rhythm"—if that rhythm breaks, they can feel clunky to play

When picking Fire Main Carries, prioritize:

• Strong AoE burst

• Enough pressure on boss-level enemies

• Not too dependent on Limit Break levels

Fire Attribute Color Changers & Burn DOT Units

Color Changers are absolutely essential for Fire teams—most of the time, you need those big red tiles to create your burst window.
The value of DOT-type units comes in when:

• Fighting super tanky enemies that take a long time to wear down

The mechanics designed for grind-heavy stages actually let you build up damage consistently without forcing perfect long chains every turn. But keep in mind: DOT-type units are mostly mid-game upgrades, so new players' first priority should be building a basic system where Color Changers work with your main damage dealers, period.

V. In-Depth Analysis of Key 6★ Units

A. Damage Core 6★ Units: Playstyle & Team Fit

Damage-focused 6★ units generally fall into three distinct roles, each suiting very different team builds:

1. Sniper Type: Great attack range, maxed single-target damage, perfect for taking down the game's toughest bosses

2. AoE Burst Type: Wide attack range, super fast mob clearing, will make stage runs so satisfying

3. Chain/Special Mechanic Type: Relies on consecutive long chains for burst damage— the more complete your team is, the more insane the damage gets

The rule for pairing damage units is actually pretty simple:

• Sniper Type units need a team that can provide "stable Color Changing + self-preservation tools" to hit their full potential

• AoE Burst Type units need their team to use Color Changing skills to create good damage windows

• Chain/Special Mechanic Type units are super dependent on how complete your entire team's synergy is

B. Color Changer 6★ Units: Tileshifting & Driving Team Damage

The value of Color Changer 6★ units is actually sometimes higher than damage-focused 6★ units—here's why: they let you pull off long chains every turn, which naturally gives you consistent damage windows each round. The more stable those windows are, the more consistent your entire team's damage output is. Let's be real about Alchemy Stars: Color Changer units aren't just support backups—they're the core engine that holds your whole team together.

Color-changing isn’t a support skill—it’s the backbone of your team.

C. Displacement/Utility Type 6-Star Units: Functional Characters Like Karen

Common utility unit types include:

• Displacing enemies

• Controlling units on the field

• Destroying or creating tiles

• Providing shields/damage mitigation effects

You’ll get stuck on many hard stages not because you lack damage, but because you’re missing utility units to counter the stage’s unique mechanics. These utility-focused 6-star characters often give players that "wait, they’re actually great later" vibe when they first pull them—totally worth sticking with.

D. Differentiating Between 6-Stars That Need High Limits to Shine vs. Those That Work Without Limits

New players must remember this—don’t mix it up, or you’ll waste resources left and right.

• Works Without Limits Type: Pull them and they can immediately be your core unit. These characters typically have fully fleshed-out skills, solid damage multipliers, and their color-shifting or utility effects unlock without needing any limit breaks.

• Needs Full Limits to Shine Type: Even at 0 limits, they feel usable, but their real power unlocks once you max them out. Their key traits include unlocking critical skill lines, cutting skill cooldowns, increasing the number of color-shift tiles, and boosting team rotation efficiency.

New players have limited resources early on—focus on investing in the "Works Without Limits" characters first to steadily push through the main story, then work on the high-limit ones later.

VI. 5-Star & F2P-Friendly Core Characters

A. Flexible 5-Star Combos By Element

Many 5-star characters in Alchemy Stars are perfect backups if you’re missing 6-stars, letting you build a solid, usable team. When building a core team with 5-stars, prioritize three key roles:

1. Color-Shifting

2. Healer

3. Sub-Damage Dealer/Utility

The goal of building a 5-star team isn’t to hit top-tier damage—it’s to hold up the team’s core foundation. Once that foundation is solid, you can easily play with any main damage dealer, whether they’re a 6-star or 5-star.

B. Are Main Story Free Characters Worth Training?

Characters given for free in the main story usually fall into one of two paths:

• Super strong early on, then become a backup for later stages

• Feel mediocre early, then turn into a god-tier utility in a specific late-game level

Here’s a simple rule of thumb:

• If the character fills a gap in your team, train them—they’re worth using

• If they’re pure damage and you already have a better damage dealer, don’t rush to train them right now

C. High-Value 5-Stars That Work Even Without 6-Stars

High-value 5-star characters usually share these traits:

• Short skill cooldowns, straightforward and easy to use

• Consistent contribution to the team

• Useful even without limit breaks

If you pull one of these 5-stars, congrats! It’ll likely solve half your biggest headache: not having a solid team foundation.

D. Types of Characters With Terrible Investment Value (New Players, Avoid Wasting Resources—Only Use Them As Placeholders)

We’re not naming names here—just listing traits to skip:

• Skills have too many restrictions (only work on specific terrain or against specific enemies)

• Pure damage role, but has mediocre damage multipliers, awkward attack range, and zero utility (no crowd control or support effects)

• Super reliant on limit breaks to be strong, but new players can’t max them out anytime soon

These characters aren’t unplayable, but they give really bad returns for new player investments. The worst fear for new players is: Wasting resources on a character only to still get stuck on stages.

VII. Class/Function Classification & In-Game Role Placement

 

A. Color-Shift Units: The Core of Your Team — You Can’t Smoothly Play Without Them

Let me say this again!

When it comes to Alchemy Stars, your training priority is NOT your main DPS — it’s color-shift units! Even if you have a super strong main DPS, without color-shift units to pair with, it’s like holding a cannon with no ammo. You’ll never deal the damage you should.

Color-shift units are super valuable in combat:

• Turns a messy board into smooth paths that let you land long combos

• Lets you pull off combo attacks every turn, cranking your damage through the roof

• Makes it easy to trigger burst windows and deal tons of damage effortlessly

B. Role Classifications: Sniper, Bomber, Shift, Healer

When building a team, think along these lines:

• Sniper: Built to take down bosses, eliminate backline enemies, and handle high-threat targets on the field

• Bomber: Clears minion hordes, destroys field obstacles, and speeds up stage progress

• Shift: Solves stage mechanics, adjusts team positioning, and revives fallen allies

• Healer: Boosts your team’s survivability a lot, making stage runs way more comfortable

• Support: Boosts damage, restores energy, applies shields, reduces damage, and keeps your team’s damage windows stable

C. Role Distinctions: Main DPS, Semi-Support DPS, Pure Support

A common mistake new players make:

• Everyone wants to be the main DPS, but then you’re missing everything —
  No color-shift units to clear paths, no healer to keep HP up, no utility units for support, so you can’t even progress through stages!
  The right team-building logic is:

Your team only needs ONE real main DPS. The rest either assist the main DPS with damage or keep the main DPS alive longer.

D. The Role of Different Units in High-Difficulty Stages

The most annoying part of high-difficulty stages is usually NOT “not enough damage” — it’s:

• Your team’s positioning is trapped, with no way to move at all

• Stuck by stage mechanics, no matter what you do

• Can’t land long combos every turn, so your combo damage completely falls apart

At times like this, utility units and color-shift units are WAY more valuable than a few extra DPS units!

VIII. Team Building Examples & Practical Team Construction

A. Standard Mono-Element Team Setup: Main DPS + 2 Color-Shifts + Support + Healer

The most versatile mono-element team template:

1. Main DPS

2. First Color-Shift Unit

3. Second Color-Shift Unit

4. Healer/Shield Unit

5. Utility Unit/Sub-DPS

This template works on almost all elemental teams — super reliable!

B. Dual-Element Team Builds: Pros & Cons

Pros of dual-element teams:

• Use two color-shift units of different elements to make the board flow smoother

• Easier to pair units based on stage weaknesses, making your strategy more targeted

Cons:

• Heavier unit training pressure — you need to level up more units at once

• Sometimes paths get messy and hard to control when pulling off combos

New players should stick to mono-element teams first for stability. Once you have enough resources, challenging dual-element teams will be way easier.

C. Adjust Units Based on Stage Mechanics: Shift, Long-Line Damage, Shields & Healing

When you get stuck on a stage, don’t rush to say “My power is too low” — ask yourself these questions:

• Does this stage need Shift units to solve its mechanics?

• Does this stage need long-line damage to deal enough damage?

• Does this stage need sturdier shields or more healing to survive?

Most of the time, getting stuck on stages in Alchemy Stars isn’t about not enough training — it’s about picking the wrong units!

D. Team Building Differences: Auto-Stage Runs vs Manual High-Difficulty Runs

For auto-stage runs, you want:

•  

 

• Skills are intuitive and easy to pull off—you don’t need to overthink positioning at all!

• Super forgiving survivability; even if you randomly place them, they won’t get taken down easily.

• No precise controls needed—you can nail burst windows with zero hassle!

When tackling hard-mode content manually, you’ll want:

• Strong color-shift characters and a full set of utility supports.

 

IX. Character Development & Resource Allocation Strategy

A. Investment Order for Character Leveling, Breakthroughs, Signature Weapons & Old Insignia

Breaking your development path into three tiers makes it way clearer:

1. Leveling

2. Breakthroughs

3. Signature Weapons / Old Insignia

Beginner Tip:

• First, max out levels and breakthroughs for your 5-person main team.

• Then, invest resources in signature weapons/old insignia for characters you actually use—don’t dump all resources into signature weapons right away! If your team’s overall level lags, you’ll still get stuck on story stages.

B. Who Gets the Best ROI for Colossus Resources, Feeder Dungeons & Material Runs

The three character types that give the best return every time:

• Your core color-shift supports

• Your main damage dealers

• Your healers
  Putting resources into these three will almost always pay off big.

C. Development Roadmap for F2P & Low-Spending Players

Here’s a super practical plan:

• Stage 1: Put together a reliable mono-element main team.

• Stage 2: Level your main team until they can consistently clear events and resource dungeons.

• Stage 3: Start building a backup team for a second element.

• Stage 4: Invest in signature weapons/old insignia and utility units for hard-mode content
  Stick to this path, and you’ll stay consistent—you’ll never end up with half-baked weak characters.

D. Avoiding the Common Mistake: Training Too Many Weak Characters

The three most frequent mistakes:

1. Training every 6-star you get, leaving your team without a stable core foundation.

2. Trying every element, spreading resources across teams and lowering overall strength.

3. Prioritizing damage dealers while ignoring color-shift supports—then complaining damage feels underwhelming (like a tiny needle tap)
   Skip these three, and your account will grow way faster.

X. Tier Lists, Meta Lists & Current Meta Characters

A. Definition & Scoring for S-Tier / T0 Characters

Tier lists aren’t useless, but you *must* first get their focus:

• Some lists lean into harder-mode dungeons

• Some focus on PVE speed-clear efficiency

• Some prioritize PVP gameplay
  Copying a list without knowing its focus will definitely get you stuck.

B. Current Meta Characters & “Must-Have” Units Breakdown

In this game, “must-have” (meta-defining) units don’t usually mean one fixed character—they mean a specific function:

• Top-tier color-shift supports

• Top-tier core damage dealers

• Hard-mode dungeon utility units
  So when pulling characters, plan around these “functional must-haves” instead of chasing a specific name.

C. Old Characters: Phased Out & Buffed Back In by the Meta

This kind of game will always have character strength shifts with updates, but the key isn’t following trends—it’s:

• First, lock in and stabilize your main team’s core foundation.

• Then, use new characters to fill gaps
  A solid core makes new characters a bonus; an unstable core means even the strongest new character won’t make play smooth.

 

D. Common Traps of Relying Solely on Tier Lists

The most typical trap is:

• The tier list says a certain damage dealer is T0 → you level them up → but your team lacks an orb changer → you can’t land that burst window → then you think this T0 character is a scam
  It’s not actually a scam—you just missed the “required prerequisites”. In Alchemy Stars, many characters only become strong when your team is built around them.

XI. Recommended Character Lists By Stage A. Recommended Characters For Early Game (Levels 1~30)

Early game you’ll need:

• Easy-to-level orb changers that work well

• A healer or shield character that can take hits

• A main damage dealer that doesn’t need precise controls to use
  You don’t need a perfect team early on—just clear stages reliably.

B. Key Characters For Mid Game (Main Story / Event Stages)

When you hit mid game, you’ll start running into stages that require team composition consideration:

You need a more stable orb chain. Event enemies are way tankier, bosses hit harder—so you’ll need:

• Stronger orb changing abilities

• Utility characters in your team slots

• Main damage dealers start needing unique weapons and breakthrough buffs

By mid game, the gap in team completeness will start to show.

C. Core Characters For Late Game Hard Content & Abyss/Tower Modes

When you hit late game, you’ll realize:

• You can’t clear stages without utility characters

• If you don’t time your bursts right, you won’t deal enough damage → so late game core characters are usually:

• Top-tier orb changers

• Utility characters that can handle hard content

• Main damage dealers that can nail burst windows properly

At this point, it’s not about who you pull and level—it’s about filling gaps in your existing team.

D. Characters Worth Long-Term Investment

For long-term leveling, characters worth investing in usually meet these criteria:

• Their role is hard to replace with other characters

• They can perform well even at Breakthrough Level 0

• They fit well into many different team builds

Picking characters using these three rules won’t lead to regrets with your investment.

XII. Character Strategies By Pay Tier

A. F2P Players: Stable Start & High-Value Characters

The most important things for F2P players:

• Stop pulling once you get a usable character

• Lock in the core of your main team first

• Focus all your resources on one or two teams

The biggest mistake F2P players make is pulling on every banner, which leaves you with no resources for anything.

B. Light Spenders: Priority 6-Star Characters

The most comfortable strategy for light spenders:

• Pull one core main damage dealer

• Pull one top-tier orb changer

• Fill the rest with 5-star characters

You don’t need to max out breakthrough levels as a light spender—just make your team complete enough.

C. Mid-to-Heavy Spenders: Max Break Value & Collector Characters

How mid/heavy spenders play:

• Push core characters to higher breakthroughs to get faster skill rotations and way more damage

• Collect more utility characters so you have a counter for every hard content mechanic

But even as a mid/heavy spender, I have to say:

Even if you pull tons of characters, if you don’t build a reasonable team structure, you just have a lot of characters—not a strong team.

D. Choosing Between “Waifu/Husbando Pulling” vs “Meta Pulling”

This game is actually perfect for “leveling characters you like”, because many characters’

 

The design and story are both really engaging! But here’s something you need to figure out:

• If you love a character, go ahead and level them up—but first, lock in a solid core for your main team.

• You can chase meta characters too, but don’t burn through all your resources so bad you can’t build out future teams.

The best balance here is:

Use a strong main team to keep pushing through content, and run a sub-team with your favorite characters to enjoy the hobby part of the game.

XIII. Version Updates & Observations on the Current Meta

A. How New Characters Impact Existing Teams

Every time a new character drops, ask yourself these 3 questions first:

1. Is this a core DPS? Color converter? Utility? Or support?

2. Can it fill a gap in your current team?

3. Does it need high limit breaks to be good? Can you get that in the short term?

If the answer is:

• Fills a gap and works at 0 limit break → Usually a great gacha pull

• Doesn’t fill a gap and relies heavily on limit breaks → Better to hold off for now

B. “Should I Pull?” For Every New Banner & Character Cost-Performance Framework

Here’s the most practical cost-performance check you can use as a player:

• How much faster does this make you clear stages?

• How much more room for error does this give you?

• How much better does this help you with hard content puzzles?

If it delivers big gains in 2 of these 3 areas, it’s usually worth the cost.

C. Character Balance Adjustments & Meta Shift Trends

Balance changes are totally normal—you don’t need to stress over every adjustment! The key points to remember:

• Don’t dump all your resources into the so-called “only meta answer” characters

• Always maintain your team’s core skeleton!
  If your core is solid, you only need to swap 1-2 spots when adjustments happen. If it’s incomplete, even a tiny change can break your whole team.

D. Character Types Likely to Rise & Characters to Prep For Early

Long-term, these are the types of characters that rarely get phased out:

• Top-tier color converters

• Utility characters with unique mechanics

• Semi-support/semi-DPS characters that combine damage and utility.
  Level these up early and you’ll have way more flexibility with your account.

If you’re a new player, here’s one super practical takeaway I have for you:

In Alchemy Stars, it’s never about “pulling the strongest character = you win”—it’s about “can you build a solid core skeleton for your team.”

Get your main team to this setup: Main DPS + 2 Color Converters + Healer + Utility Character, and you’ve already outplayed half the players who only chase the meta tier list. Once that’s set, going after stronger 6-star characters, flashy full-limit break builds, and fancy dual-element teams is just the cherry on top. But if you rush to chase all these fun, flashy things before your core is solid? You’ll keep hitting walls and wondering, “I have a 6-star why is this still so hard?”